Four years ago: STRANGE statement from John Gregory
And the Daily Mail
Lee strike ends Magilton pain
By BOB DRISCOLLLast updated at 11:36 04 March 2007
John Gregory believes there is a powerful caucus of people close to the club who are plotting to kill off Queen's Park Rangers. The QPR manager, having seen his side squander an opportunity to ease relegation fears with a 2-1 defeat to fellow strugglers Ipswich, opened up for the first time about the ?dark? side of life at Loftus Road.
Gregory, who took charge of Rangers when they were rock bottom with just six points, has steered the club to within touching distance of safety even though he believes his efforts are constantly being undermined by a hate campaign. Said Gregory: "There are quite a lot of individuals trying hard to destroy QPR. People who have been close to the club ? some are former employees - but who now want to see it wrecked. They?ve been spreading a lot of poison and stirring up trouble where there isn?t any.
"Sometimes I feel as though I?m in a soap opera and I?m actually managing that tv Dream Team?Harchester United isn?t it? Only the drama at Loftus Roadis for real. "In fact, scriptwriters couldn?t think up anything as dramatic as some of the stuff that?s been happening at our place.
"And through it all, I?ve had to play the part of the bad guy and I find it anything but pleasant. Shaking hands with somebody who?s been at the club for 20 years and telling them they?re no longer wanted is not a very nice thing to have to do.
"On arrival at QPR I also found I had inherited 35 professionals. Thirty-five! I didn?t have a clue what some of them were doing there. It wasn?t their fault but I had to pay off around ten of them.
"Then, as if I hadn?t got enough trouble, we had the Chinese punch up affair. A training ground fight with China?s Olympic team wasn?t quite what I needed to lighten the atmosphere."Meanwhile, amid all this dark side of things, I?ve had to try and detach myself to concentrate on saving the club from relegation."
Yet, even allowing for yet another setback in his campaign at Portman Road, Gregory has no intention of walking away when his current contract expires this summer.
"I?ve got an option for two more years and, despite everything, I?ve no doubts about my intention to stay. I?m loving the whole thing and I?m determined to prove our enemies wrong.
"Getting ourselves to within even a chance of safety has been the equivalent of swimming the channel. Now we?ve got to swim it again to stay up."
The first stage of that second ?swim? looked on in the opening 20 minutes at Portman Road. But despite driving Town back into their penalty box and forcing a series of corners, Rangers could not make it count.
Inevitably, they paid the price when Alan Lee gave Ipswichthe lead in the 26th minute thanks to a defensive lapse that allowed him a free header to score the Tractor Boys? first goal in six matches. And, when Jon Walters ended a one-two with partner Lee to make it 2-0 in the 55th minute, doom once again beckoned for Gregory?s boys.
However, sub Paul Furlong brought a glimmer of hope when he followed up on a rebound to make it 2-1 in the 71st. But, denied a genuine penalty shout for a tackle on Furlong in stoppage time, Rangers? late rally was to no avail.
www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-439884/Lee-strike-ends-Magilton-pain.html#ixzz1FoAEqV2qComplete Guardian ArticleWalters takes chance to add to Gregory's problems
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Ipswich Town 2 Lee 26, Walters 54
QPR 1 Furlong 71
Mark Tallentire at Portman Road The Guardian, Monday 5 March
2007
Gianni Paladini wandered back to his seat in the directors' box after half-time, alone and deep in thought. After a dreadful month in which his QPR team had dipped back into the bottom three and attracted adverse headlines on front pages as well as back, he would have been entitled to be wondering where it is all going to end.
One down to an Ipswich team who had not scored for eight minutes short of 10 hours was merely the latest in a sequence of trials that include the recent brawl with China's Olympic team but last week's admission by Paladini that he would sell if "some millionaire" wants to take the club forward but "nobody is interested at the moment and I have no choice but to stay", had hardly inspired confidence.
Three new board members were also wheeled out by Paladini last week, all said to be fans and at least two of them property lawyers. Coming so soon after the sighting of Sam Hammam, the man who rendered Wimbledon homeless and ultimately stateless, at their last home match, the club and their Loftus Road stadium are again seen to be under threat.
It is not the best of working environments, then, for the manager, John Gregory, who arrived with the club bottom of the table and inherited a 35-man squad to get on with it. "We've swum the Channel to get this far," he said later. "I'm just looking forward to the summer and sitting down with a blank piece of paper to try to build something constructive.
"I've paid off nine or 10 players and it's not been easy - I've been the bad guy in all of it. But there's people out there trying to destroy the club, people who are close to it. You've got some on the internet message boards slagging everything off and giving out details about financial aspects, which are confidential. A few former employees might be feeding them stuff, spreading a lot of poison. It's quite sad really.
"Financially we are restricted and are trying to make the best of what we have got. They are a good bunch but sometimes they are not at it and other weeks they are brilliant. That's the hardest part."
QPR actually started well and pinned Ipswich in their own half but before long the home side were getting out of it on a regular basis. Less than a minute after Alex Bruce saw his header well saved at the foot of a post, Alan Lee headed in a Gareth Roberts cross and after half-time Roberts threaded a pass through for Jon Walters, signed from Chester on a free in January, to knock in his first for the club.
"We can't win with one up front" was the refrain from the QPR fans and the 38-year-old Paul Furlong emerged to hammer home a rebound, after Martin Rowlands hit an upright, and also had a chance to knock in a scarcely deserved equaliser deep into injury-time, when he was impeded and shot high and wide.
Ipswich had introduced Francis Jeffers by then, down on a month's loan from Blackburn. He arrived in the town at 10pm on Friday and showed some good touches. "It's amazing, you bring someone else in and both of your strikers score," said the Ipswich manager, Jim Magilton. It is the sort of thing Paladini and Gregory can only dream about.
Man of the match Owen Garvan (Ipswich)
www.guardian.co.uk/football/2007/mar/05/match.ipswichtown
